The present invention relates to an air-cooled absorption type water cooling/heating apparatus in which air is used as a cooling medium for cooling both a condenser for liquefying gaseous refrigerant separated in a separator and an absorber which is supplied with a thick salt solution for absorbing gaseous refrigerant evaporated in an evaporator.
A water-cooled absorption type water cooling/heating apparatus has been known in which a condenser and an absorber are cooled by water. This apparatus has a cooling system which employs a heat exchanger for chilling water by making use of heat absorption caused by evaporation of a liquid-phase refrigerant in the evaporator. The apparatus has a cooling/heating change-over valve which permits, when the apparatus is used in heating mode, the evaporator to be supplied with hot refrigerant gas so that the heat exchanger functions as a water heater. In this apparatus, therefore, the heat exchanger is serveable both as a water cooler and a water heater, depending on the operation mode of the apparatus. This means that the provision of independent heat exchangers for cooling and heating purposes is not necessary.
Known also is an air-cooled absorption type water cooling/heating apparatus. This apparatus has a cooling cycle which is constituted by, as shown in FIG. 5, a high-temperature regenerator 1' for heating a thin salt solution which has absorbed a refrigerant, a separator 2' for fractionating the heated solution into refrigerant vapor and a solution of an intermediate thickness, a low-temperature regenerator 4' for heating the solution of intermediate thickness by the heat produced as a result of condensation of the refrigerant gas, an air-cooled condenser 6' for liquefying the refrigerant gas from the low-temperature regenerator 4', an evaporator 7' in which the liquefied refrigerant from the condenser 6' is evaporated so as to chill water, an absorber 8' in which the refrigerant gas from the evaporator 7' is absorbed in thick solution supplied from the low-temperature regenerator 4', and a pump 9' which pumps up the thin solution which has absorbed the refrigerant into the high-temperature regenerator 1'. The apparatus further has a cooling/heatig change-over valve 17' provided in a pipe between the separator 2' and the evaporator 7'. When this valve 17' is opened, the heat exchanger of the evaporator 7', which constitutes a water cooler in the cooling cycle, functions as a water heater. In this case, therefore, the above-mentioned constituents form a heating cycle.
FIG. 6 shows still another known water cooling/heating apparatus which has, in addition to the constituents of the apparatus shown in FIG. 5, a water heater 11' and a heat source 10' for the water heater 11'. A three-way valve 12' is switchable between two positions such as to open either a flow passage A or a flow passage B. In the apparatus shown in FIG. 5, the heat exchanger of the evaporator 7' functions both for cooling and heating purposes. Unfortunately, an effort for attaining high efficiency of cooling of the condenser 6' and the absorber 8' by air results in a reduction of the heating capacity of the apparatus in heating mode, due to an increase in the natural heat radiation from the condenser 6' and the absorber 8' to the ambient air. The apparatus shown in FIG. 6, therefore, incorporates the water heater 11' and the heat source 10' which in combination assist the evaporator in heating the water so as to compensate for the reduction in the heating power experienced with the apparatus shown in FIG. 5. The apparatus shown in FIG. 6, however, necessitates two heat sources: namely, the heat source for heating the high-temperature regenerator in the cooling mode and the heat source 10' for the water heater 11', with the result that the construction of the apparatus as a whole is complicated and the production cost is raised.